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Shooting the Sun
Charles Babbage was an English genius of legendary eccentricity. He invented the cowcatcher, the ophthalmoscope, and the “penny post.” He was an expert lock picker, he wrote a ballet, he pursued a vendetta against London organ-grinders that made him the laughingstock of Europe. And all his life he was in desperate need of enormous sums of money to build his fabled reasoning machine, the Difference Engine, the first digital computer in history.
To publicize his Engine, Babbage sponsors a private astronomical expedition—a party of four men and one remarkable woman—who will set out from Washington City and travel by wagon train two thousand miles west, beyond the last known outposts of civilization. Their ostensible purpose is to observe a total eclipse of the sun predicted by
Babbage’s computer, and to photograph it with the newly invented camera of Louis Daguerre.
The actual purpose, however…
Suffice it to say that in Shooting the Sun nothing is what it seems, eclipses have minds of their own, and even the best computer cannot predict treachery, greed, and the fickle passions of the human heart.
From the Hardcover edition.
To publicize his Engine, Babbage sponsors a private astronomical expedition—a party of four men and one remarkable woman—who will set out from Washington City and travel by wagon train two thousand miles west, beyond the last known outposts of civilization. Their ostensible purpose is to observe a total eclipse of the sun predicted by
Babbage’s computer, and to photograph it with the newly invented camera of Louis Daguerre.
The actual purpose, however…
Suffice it to say that in Shooting the Sun nothing is what it seems, eclipses have minds of their own, and even the best computer cannot predict treachery, greed, and the fickle passions of the human heart.
From the Hardcover edition.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
13 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Max Byrd
31 books20 followersMay Byrd is the author of a number of scholarly books on 18th century English literature, including Visits to Bedlam and London Transformed. Winner of the Shamus Award for best paperback private detective novel, his oeuvre of detective novels include the Book-of-the-Month Club selection Target of Opportunity. Byrd is also the author of four historical novels: Grant: A Novel, Jefferson: A Novel, Jackson: A Novel, and Shooting the Sun. He currently serves as the president of the board of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.
Max Byrd has taught English at Yale and UC Davis, has been a visiting professor at Stanford, and has lectured at UC Berkeley, Warwick University, the Sorbonne, and Monticello. Among the many publications featuring Byrd’s articles and book reviews are the Yale Review, New York Times Book Review, New Republic, and Woodrow Wilson Quarterly. He has served as editor of the scholarly journal Eighteenth-Century Studies.
Max Byrd has taught English at Yale and UC Davis, has been a visiting professor at Stanford, and has lectured at UC Berkeley, Warwick University, the Sorbonne, and Monticello. Among the many publications featuring Byrd’s articles and book reviews are the Yale Review, New York Times Book Review, New Republic, and Woodrow Wilson Quarterly. He has served as editor of the scholarly journal Eighteenth-Century Studies.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 23, 2012
Average Historical Fiction Fare
Max Byrd has been on my list of Historical Fiction writers to read for quite some time. I've run across several recommendations of his Presidential works and so when I stumbled across this book I assumed it would serve as a nice introduction to his work and a quick and enjoyable read.
Overall, that did indeed prove to be the case and overall the book read fairly smoothly, held my interest and provided me with some insights both to the geography and history of the areas concerned. The book itself is a bit more fiction than history in terms of the plot. The primary characters for the most part interact and brush against true historical figures and some insight is gained into some of the early science of photography. The plot itself while plausible, does not reflect much in the way of reality. The build up to the final resolution seemed to go by much more quickly than necessary to have missed an opportunity for more time and effort to bring it to a more satisfactory conclusion.
Nevertheless, Max Byrd is demonstrated to be a capable writer and I am encouraged to read his other Presidential Books in hopes that his reputation will be lived up to within those pages.
In short, this was certainly not the worst Historical Fiction I've ever read, but even so, it was not the best either.
3 Stars and a recommendation for a fast paced and easy to read story from a capable writer.
Max Byrd has been on my list of Historical Fiction writers to read for quite some time. I've run across several recommendations of his Presidential works and so when I stumbled across this book I assumed it would serve as a nice introduction to his work and a quick and enjoyable read.
Overall, that did indeed prove to be the case and overall the book read fairly smoothly, held my interest and provided me with some insights both to the geography and history of the areas concerned. The book itself is a bit more fiction than history in terms of the plot. The primary characters for the most part interact and brush against true historical figures and some insight is gained into some of the early science of photography. The plot itself while plausible, does not reflect much in the way of reality. The build up to the final resolution seemed to go by much more quickly than necessary to have missed an opportunity for more time and effort to bring it to a more satisfactory conclusion.
Nevertheless, Max Byrd is demonstrated to be a capable writer and I am encouraged to read his other Presidential Books in hopes that his reputation will be lived up to within those pages.
In short, this was certainly not the worst Historical Fiction I've ever read, but even so, it was not the best either.
3 Stars and a recommendation for a fast paced and easy to read story from a capable writer.
May 8, 2018
I have wanted to read Max Byrd's presidential historical novels for some time. When I found this book in the library it seemed like a good way to check his work out. This book feels like an old-fashioned historical novel and that is not high praise. The characters seem to exist only to interact with real-life ones such as Charles Babbage, Thomas Hart Benton and Martin Van Buren. These real folks are given lines of dialogue so stiff they feel like daguerreotype pictures. No real drama occurs here and nothing much ever seems to be at stake. I was not thrilled with this one.
November 30, 2009
Interesting story of a scientific team (four men and - horrors - a woman) from England traveling 2000 miles across the American West to Santa Fe (then Mexican territory) in a wagon train to film the eclipse of the sun with the newly developed camera of Louis Daquerre. The eclipse was predicted by Charles Babbage's reasoning machine, the Difference Engine - the precursor to the computer. Babbage was a legendary inventor and eccentric who invented the cowcatcher, and the ophthalmoscope. This part is true, but the journey is not.
March 29, 2010
How do I review a book that frustrated me all the way through and then came up with this amazing end? I was further frustrated to read in the Note at the end that this expedition never really took place. I think I need a more historical fact base in my historical fiction, but that being said, one of my frustrations was that too much history was jammed in unrelated to the storyline as I went along.
August 6, 2022
First, I confess that I did not finish reading this because it was so frustrating to me. It started out being very lively. I was interested in the main female character to find to find out more about her, only to discover that she was not a real person -- okay, no problem -- but the entire premise of the novel -- a mid-19th century trip across much of what was then the U.S. to try to photograph a total solar eclipse -- was complete fiction, also! So the only "history" was that it was centered around a real person, Charles Babbage (the designer of the first elementary computer), who had no appeal to me.
I think that historical fiction should be at least grounded in actual history and not about one real person in a completely fictitious setting GRRRR!
November 9, 2017
I love this type of book with a fine 'picture' of life, the world, the stuggles .... of particularly the U.S.... a world I KNOW now and can IMAGINE again w/ the writings of a well-researched book. I also can imagine that, as many readers note, it can be boring if it's not to your taste, these carefully constructed 'adventures' which were LIFE.
Add in characters well-drawn, and interesting background story (better yet that it is based on fact!) and away I go. Enjoyed the whole tale and w/ an especial 'oh noooooo' thrown in.
Add in characters well-drawn, and interesting background story (better yet that it is based on fact!) and away I go. Enjoyed the whole tale and w/ an especial 'oh noooooo' thrown in.
March 2, 2018
I reluctantly rated it at 4 stars,but to me the book lacked a lot of "substance." It was a small story, not terribly engrossing.
May 7, 2013
Interesting historical novel about an expedition to photograph a total solar eclipse in the American desert in the 1840's. Lots of strands pulled together-science, art, photography, travel, Native Americans, make this a rewarding read, but the development of the fictional characters felt a little shallow.
January 20, 2016
Interested in the Wild West? Math? Photography? Eclipses? Eccentric characters? This historical fiction is especially fun for including the quirky genius Charles Babbage, who was out to prove something.
August 8, 2025
Scientific expedition from Washington D>.. to the desert north of Taos to see and photograph a total eclipse in 1840. Most everything went wrong, a very entertaining read.
Byrd writes very well.
Byrd writes very well.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews